Friday, June 02, 2006

Friday Morning Goddess: Ix Chel

The Goddess Ix Chel, the "Rainbow Lady," is the Mayan Moon Goddess of pregnancy, childbirth, and medicine. She is often pictured as a wise old woman with a skirt embroidered with cross bones who has a snake on her head and carries a large water pitcher. She was worshipped throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, and there was a shrine to her in Cozumel.

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When I was traveling in Belize and Guatemala, I came across many natural healing products emblazoned with the image of this Mayan Goddess. For example, bug repellent made of natural oils from the rain forest instead of DEET. It was pretty cool, especially since many of the products supported protection of the rain forests and brought funds to local workers. It's fascinating how many Goddesses are associated with snakes. Why would Goddesses, and women (think Eve) be associated with snakes and serpents?

2 comments:

Goddesses and snakes: [Also representative of the role as Fertility Goddess are the duplication symbols, in the form of animals that shed their skin such as snakes or in the form of double yoke eggs.] From here: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gloria/Goddess.html

Also, check this out: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos287.htmMy SMIL is into goddesses and goddess culture... It is fascinating stuff.